by Jeannie Wurz, swissinfo.ch
April 29, 2013 – 11:00
Naturalisation is a Swiss political hot potato, with moves afoot to make the process harder in the face of rising immigration. But not every foreign resident who is eligible feels the need to embark on the long road to Swiss citizenship.
A 2012 study commissioned by the Federal Commission on Migration found that in 2010 around 900,000 people in Switzerland were eligible for citizenship. In contrast, 36,000 people, or around two per cent of foreigners in Switzerland in 2011, were granted Swiss citizenship.
“In comparison to other countries, Switzerland has very strict criteria for citizenship, which could be a reason for the relatively high number of people with foreigner status,” Halua Pinto de Magalhães, co-president of the immigrant organisation Second@s Plus, told swissinfo.ch.
But there are other reasons as well. Mary Ann Reynolds, who is British, lives in Appenzell with her Canadian husband. “I’ve lived here 12 years and my husband nearly 20,” Reynolds says. “Neither of us are interested in becoming Swiss. We don’t understand anyone’s motivation if their current citizenship is of a well-recognised and respected country.”
Bibiana* [name withheld], from Slovakia, a member of the European Union, “never thought about being Swiss. I never needed it.” She has lived in Bern for 14 years. Her partner, from South America, has a diplomatic passport. The couple plan to return to South America before their oldest child starts school.
And Per Jessen, a Dane who lives in canton Zurich, is torn. He would like to become Swiss, but would have to give up his Danish citizenship. “It’s sentimental attachment,” he says, and not the belief that an EU passport is more valuable.
Demand for Swiss citizenship has fluctuated over the years depending on changes to the naturalisation law and the political context, but the general trend is clear: the little red passport is increasingly coveted. […]
Why bother?
So, has a Swiss passport become less valuable in the past 50 years? Probably, according to Walter Leimgruber, head of the Institute for Cultural Studies and European Ethnology at the University of Basel.
Categories: Europe, Switzerland
Who is currently eligible?
Applying for Swiss citizenship is a complicated process, all the more so because all applications are considered at the national, cantonal, and communal levels. Immigrants who have lived in Switzerland for 12 years are eligible at a national level to apply for citizenship, but requirements for how long a person has to have lived in a commune before applying vary.
There are other special conditions as well. The spouses of Swiss citizens can apply once they have lived in the country for five years, but the couple has to have cohabited for the past three years. Similarly, if a foreign couple apply together for citizenship, only one has to meet the 12-year requirement; the other must have lived in Switzerland for five years. And for young foreigners who were born in Switzerland to immigrant parents – often referred to as ‘secondos’ – the years between the ages of 10 and 20 are currently counted double.
Applicants are required to be integrated in the Swiss way of life, familiar with Swiss customs and traditions, in compliance with the Swiss rule of law, and to represent no danger to Switzerland’s internal or external security.